Chapter 112: Chapter 112

There was silence for some time. The only sound that could be heard in the room was that of Jessica sniffling in Sebastian's arms. Carol retreated to sit on one of the chairs in the room. She was weary and tired of it all, and although she knew she shouldn't, the truth was that she blamed herself for everything to an extent, even though everyone, including Sebastian's aunt, told her not to do that. Carol felt so sad for the poor woman, who had aged and slimmed down considerably in the two weeks since her husband died. There was no way to fully prepare for a loved death, especially when that person wasn't an aged person. Mr. James was just in his early sixties, for crying out loud, and his life had been cut short by a maniac, who ironically was his own child.

Finally, Jessica raised her head from Sebastian's chest and began to speak, although she carefully avoided Carol's gaze, looking only at Sebastian, who was listening to her keenly.

"On the night that I was kidnapped, I was trying to fix my makeup as I told you I had to do before I came back inside when I heard footsteps. I thought you were the one who had come back to get me or something like that, but the next thing I knew, someone was placing a handkerchief, or some sort of fabric over my face and as much as I tried to fight them, I couldn't and fell unconscious in less than a minute. When I woke up, I found myself tied up and confined to a room where they gave me food that would barely be enough for even a small child. No one explained why I was there to me, and when I dared to ask, I was beaten to a coma for my efforts.

Pretty soon, I learned to only sit there, breathe, and exist, but I was slowly running mad. The room was filthy and the only companion I had was a stinking giant idiot whose job was to keep me from escaping, not that I could have escaped from there even if I tried. The house in which I was held was big, and someone would surely have noticed if I tried to escape. I remained in the room, growing skinnier than I had ever been, and you know I was pretty skinny before I was kidnapped. That was until the man who was guarding me decided that his idea of fun would be to rape me. He could easily have done it despite my protests and the fact that I managed to kick him in the balls ... hard. However, he did not do it and instead, decided that the best way to punish me would be to keep me in a cage that was barely large enough to contain me." Her voice broke and she cried silently for a while, before continuing her story, proceeding to tell them all that had happened, and how Charlotte eventually came to release her, only to hold her in another kind of bondage again.

"Why didn't you just run away when she rented that apartment and left you alone in it?" Carol asked.

"Why do you think, you nitwit? I was threatened, that's why. I had just spent six months in captivity, so naturally, I was scared out of my wits, and when they told me that they were watching my every move, I believed it wholly. Plus there was the betrayal that I thought that Sebastian had betrayed me and what I thought that Mr. James had done to me. Anyway, what it boiled down to was that I was willing to agree to Charlotte's terms for me to help her get back at Mr. James. I never knew that it was all a lie. I'm so sorry, Sebastian." She said, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"It's okay. You didn't know." Sebastian said, but Carol could hear in his voice that it was far from okay. He was still grieving and his guilt at having cut off his uncle, only to find out that the man was innocent after he died was eating at him seriously. Looking at him now, she could see the dark circles under his eyes and knew that he was not sleeping well, if at all.

"Well, continue your story," Carol said, not without some irritation. Why couldn't Jesica just sit by herself? Why did she have to lean against Sebastian or touch him in some way?

"Don't snap at me. You will want to brace yourself for what comes next."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, when you insinuated that Charlotte was involved in your sister's murder, you were right. I don't have proof that she killed her, but then I know that Victoria was also held in the same apartment in Toledo that I was held in. I don't know what happened to her after I left. Charlotte made her call you that day to ask about your location in the Maldives and then took me away from there to the Maldives. She left one of her men to guard Jessica, and I'm guessing that she later gave orders for her to be shot, or maybe she went back and shot Victoria herself. I don't really know, but yeah, that was why I said that you should brace yourself."

"Oh, my God!" Carol breathed, her eyes welling up with tears as the painful memories came rushing back to her. Granted, Victoria had been very annoying and all that, but no one deserved to die the way that she had, no matter what. Besides, Carol had loved her and she was sure that Victoria loved her too in her own way.

"Jeez! We have to tell the police all this." Sebastian cut in.

"Why didn't you say something earlier, you bitch? Why didn't you? My kid sister is dead and all this while, you just laid there like a log of wood, refusing to say what you knew." Carol yelled at her, knowing that she was being unreasonable, but grief had a hold of her and it was talking through her.

"Excuse me? In case you forgot, I was in a coma and even when I came out of it, I couldn't do much of anything. If memory serves me correctly, from what I heard, you are the one to blame for all of this. After all, you brought that psycho bitch here so that she killed Mr. Sebastian and almost killed me too. Mind you, I liked Victoria ... far more than I like or will ever like you. Your own sister did not even like you very much, not that I can blame her conside..."

"That's enough, Jessica. I will not have you talk to Carol that way. I will not have it at all. Is that clear?"

"Oh? So you're now taking her side over mine. Is that it? After all I went through just because I had some sort of connection to you?"

"I'm not taking anybody's side, but you should remember that just two weeks ago, Carol here did her best to try to save your life. She does not deserve what you just said to her. To be frank, no one does."

"Whatever," Jessica replied, pouting and looking away as she folded her arms and refused to talk further. Carol, who was hurt beyond imagination, got up from the room and fled with tears flooding her eyes. She wanted to be anywhere away from here and that hateful woman and she refused to let Jessica see her cry. That would be beyond humiliating.

She was not surprised when Sebastian followed her outside and took her in his arms, where she melted and tried to control her tears. She just did not get why Jessica seemed to hate her so much.

"Don't pay her any mind, Carol. I guess she's just really cranky because she has been cooped up in that hospital room for so long."

"I don't think that is the case here. She just doesn't like me, so from now on, I'm going to stop forcing my friendship on her. I was only trying to be friends with her because I knew it would make you happy." Carol said, wiping at her face. The next time Jessica tried that sort of thing, she would put her firmly in her place.

"So you want to make me happy, then?" Sebastian asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"Well, of course, I do. You never stop trying to make me happy or comfortable." Carol said, even though she knew perfectly well what he was talking about. The look in his eyes was enough to get her lady bits tingling, and her gaze dropped to the full lower lips that she could never get enough of kissing.

"Let's get out of here, Carol. I want to make love to you." He told her, dropping a series of small kisses on her lips, and causing her knees to weaken in pleasure.

"There's nothing I would love more than that," Carol replied, gratified when he took her hand and led her quickly out of the hospital, without even bothering to inform Jessica that they were leaving.